Albania Child Sexual Assault Investigation
Save the Children in cooperation with International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) of the U.S. Embassy in Albania, General Directorate of Police and Terre Des Hommes organized, on the first week of February, a training course for professionals working at police stations, Legal Medicine Institute and child protection system. This training course aimed to ensure that professionals gain knowledge and increase their capacities on how to work and protect children who are exploited and abused and ensure that their best interest comes first. This capacity building course is implemented in the framework of Save the Children project on Strengthening Juvenile Justice System in Albania.
"Child Sexual Assault Investigation" training Course for professionals closing ceremony
“Regrettably children are not always safe and every day there are stories in the media of children who have been abused, neglected and exploited by those they trust. In Albania legislation is in place to protect children from abuse and exploitation but the law is only one part of a wider protection system, which must include effective systems delivered by competent individuals – within social services, health services and the justice system. Albania has made significant progress in recent years to strengthen these systems and ensure children are protected. This training is an important step to ensure the professionals working within these systems have the knowledge and capacity to ensure that when children are exploited and abused, the system can support them, and the people within that system can ensure the best interests of the child come first and ultimately keep those children safe” said Save the Children and Terre des Homes in their joint opening speech.
During the training course the participants acquired skills on best practices to protect the child from the moment they come into contact with the protection services including, how to interview child/adolescent victims, sexual Assault characteristics, myths and types of it, how to collect evidences and use anatomical dolls in assessing child abuse. Site visits in the Institute of Legal Medicine, hospital emergency room, new child friendly spaces at police stations, which are rehabilitated by the support of Save the Children, helped the training participants to get more knowledge on the practical procedures used by the respective institutions to support child/adolescent victims of sexual assault.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes that because children are often the most vulnerable members of our society, they have a special right to protection. Child abuse and exploitation is unacceptable in any situation and Save the Children and Terre des Hommes will continue campaigning to raise awareness about children’s rights and to end abuse of children in all forms.
“We recognize that eliminating child abuse and exploitation, is a long way off. What we can do now is ensure that when it does happen, we keep the child and their rights at the centre of our work, and keep them safe as professionals and different services work together to protect and support them” said Save the Children and Terre des Homes in their joint opening speech.
Participants’ hard work accomplished over the training course was awarded with personalized certificates for successful completion. The closing ceremony was attended by the Mr. Henry V. Jardine, Deputy Chief of Mission for the U.S. Embassy in Tirana, Mr Altin Qato, Vice Director of General Directorate of Police, Mr Steve Bennet, Program Director for ICITAP-Albania, who recognized the support of Save the Children in organizing this training and fruitful collaboration and work to ensure protection of children rights in Albania.
